Inland Revenue’s income deficit in 2018 is Rs. 1.3 trillion | Daily News

Inland Revenue’s income deficit in 2018 is Rs. 1.3 trillion

The Inland Revenue Department has recorded a deficit of Rs. 1.3 trillion for 2018 as a result of non-payment of dues by many Government institutions, it was disclosed yesterday.

This revelation was made before the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) held in Parliament, chaired by Prof. Tissa Vitharana.

The officials representing the Inland Revenue Department present at the meeting said the major portion of the missing income was to be paid by government institutions, though an independent board has determined that some of these institutions are currently not in a financial position to pay their dues. Accordingly, the Committee recommended the Income Revenue Department to submit a full report on these institutions.

The Committee recommended the Income Revenue Department to submit a full report on these institutions.

The Auditor General’s Department pointed out that another reason for this substantial deficit of revenue was due to 8,060 dishonored cheques worth Rs. 3 billion.

Inland Revenue Department officials pointed out at the committee that a blacklist inclusive of 65 taxpayers has already been prepared.

The Inland Revenue Department was summoned before the Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday where Treasury and Finance Ministry Secretary S.R Attygalle, Commissioner General of Inland Revenue C.P.J. Siriwardena and many high-ranking officials of the Inland Revenue Department and the Auditor General’s Department were present.

Officials stated that since the beginning of 2017, the Inland Revenue Department had used a computerised system ‘RAMIS’ to streamline tax collection which has been more efficient than conducting the process manually.

However, Members pointed out that it is problematic that more than Rs. 3 billion should be paid again to a Singaporean company every time a tax amendment is made to the said system which was established at a cost of over Rs. 4 billion. Therefore, Minister Duminda Dissanayake suggested that an agreement on tax amendments should be arrived for a one-time payment mechanism with the company.

Finance Ministry and Treasury Secretary S.R.Attygalle said a five-year continuous, consistent tax policy was proposed by this budget for the practical convenience of taxpayers as well as tax collectors.

According to the officials, there are 2,192 large-scale taxpayers in Sri Lanka, of which 532 contribute towards the payment of 70.2% of tax revenue.

State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Duminda Dissanayake, MPs Tissa Attanayake, Gunapala Ratnasekera, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Prof. Ranjith Bandara, Ajith Rajapakse,S.Shritharan and Harini Amarasuriya were present at the meeting.